HP reaffirms its commitment to network management

Network/Systems Management This Newsletter is sponsored by NetSupport Inc. Bringing Your IT Assets Into Focus Providing centralized solutions to your ITAM needs. NetSupport DNA combines hardware and software inventory, software distribution, application and internet metering, PC Remote control,alerting and enterprise reporting. Take the DNA challenge. Improve productivity and the management of risk exposure while reducing total cost of ownership. Download and implement in minutes. Network World's Network/Systems Management Newsletter, 10/24/07 HP reaffirms its commitment to network management By Denise Dubie HP this week renewed the faith of thousands of its management software loyalists by overhauling what has long been thought to be the cornerstone of the company's software business: Network Node Manager. HP's NNM i 8.0, or Network Node Manager i 8.0, promises to give new capabilities to existing customers who decide to upgrade -- which is free for those with valid support licenses. HP says with the upgraded NNM customers can automatically view on their console only network problems that require operator action and can more quickly determine the root cause of a network problem. The software includes topology maps linked with the causes of issues and runs continuous discovery processes to keep the maps up-to-date. Those are just a few new capabilities as the list of features goes on and on, and that is good news to HP customers who have been waiting for close to 4 years for a major upgrade to NNM. Still some are skeptical. "If I seem confused it is because I am. HP has been very tight with details of NNM i 8.0 even to its beta testers," says Mike Peckar, principal consultant at Fognet Consulting and a member of HP's user group. "Overall, I'm looking forward to the new version addressing some serious scalability and distribution issues that have plagued the product for years, and I have no doubts that there are major changes to look and feel of NNM in this version." Executive Guide:Virtualization Meets Reality Virtualization is being used to make the most out of everything from applications and servers to desktops and storage. But as companies expand their reliance on the technology, challenges mount. Read this guide authored by a host of Network World editors and review this timely topic. Click Here for More Information NNM i 8.0 is part of a larger product upgrade the company announced this week. The management application is part of HP Network Management Center 8.0, which HP says helps customers increase service levels to business users, align IT with business objectives and decrease IT cost structures. The solution uses automation capabilities to fix network problems and follows the best practices laid out in ITIL to do so. With the network management software installed in more than 10,000 customer environments worldwide, keeping the product up-to-date seems like it would be an obvious priority for HP. But considering the vendors heavy acquisition schedule (Peregrine Systems, Mercury Interactive and Opsware, just to name few) and bigger pushes toward IT service management and data center automation, HP might have let its cornerstone technology slide a bit. And the vendor in 2006 was cited by research firm IDC as having the largest share -- more than 28% -- of the market for distributed performance and availability management software and HP reported $757 million in revenue for those products in the same year. "There hasn't been a lot of development going on and with all the acquisitions of late, NNM had gotten a bit lost in the shuffle at HP," says Stephen Elliot, a research manager covering enterprise system management at IDC. "Now with things changing in the broader management domain and HP doing business service management, the network is getting attention again. This release should be a real coming out party for the installed base."   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

MOST-READ STORIES: 1. 'Fire blogging' tech expert on the frontlines 2. Cisco's $330M buy into WiMAX 3. Cisco fights fakes via remarketing operations 4. Wireless video transfers 100X faster than WiFi 5. 2007 network industry graveyard 6. Why swearing at work is a good thing 7. HP overhauls Network Node Manager 8. Gartner's top 10 strategic technologies for 2008 9. 10 little-known features of Windows 2008 10. Funniest Microsoft videos on YouTube MOST-READ REVIEW: NAC alternatives hit the mark

Contact the author: Senior Editor Denise Dubie covers the technologies, products and services that address network, systems, application and IT service management for Network World. E-mail Denise. This Newsletter is sponsored by NetSupport Inc. Bringing Your IT Assets Into Focus Providing centralized solutions to your ITAM needs. NetSupport DNA combines hardware and software inventory, software distribution, application and internet metering, PC Remote control,alerting and enterprise reporting. Take the DNA challenge. Improve productivity and the management of risk exposure while reducing total cost of ownership. Download and implement in minutes. ARCHIVE Archive of the Network/Systems Management Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007